The Luxemburg-Casco Spartan won an overtime 61-60 nail-biter over the Waupaca Comets in a North Eastern Conference game Tuesday night.  Peyton Mrotek’s free throw with :01 left in overtime sealed the victory for the Spartans.

 

The Spartans jumped off to a 12-3 lead early on, only to see Waupaca tie the game at 16-16 and eventually take a 30-28 advantage at halftime on a last-second layup by Luke Schwen. 

 

The score see-sawed several times in the second half as the final minute of regulation had Waupaca holding the ball for the last shot with the score of 56-56.  A missed layup by Evan Bogard sent the game into overtime and gave the Spartans a second life.

 

In the overtime, Waupaca held a two-point lead with over a minute left when Jacob Parins hit two clutch free throws for the Spartans to tie the game up at 60-60.

Again Waupaca chose to hold the ball for the final shot and nearly turned the ball over on a held ball in the backcourt with :11 left.  The possession arrow was to the Comets and after a timeout, the inbound was eventually stolen by Mrotek with :04 at midcourt.  Mrotek drove in for a layup and was fouled with :01 left.  After missing the first free throw and a timeout by Waupaca, Mrotek calmly sank the game-winning free throw and a desperation heave by Waupaca was off the mark giving the Spartans the victory. 

 

Mrotek had a monster floor game with 30 points and connecting on 10 of 16 from the charity stripe.  Evan Dahlke added nine points with three three-pointers. 

 

 Waupaca falls to 3-6 in the NEC and 4-9 overall.   The Spartans (4-5, 6-7 overall) will now look for their third straight win on Friday as they host the conference-leading Fox Valley Lutheran Foxes. 

 

Matt Piesler and Paul Schmitt will have the call with the pregame set for 6:30 pm on 96.7 FM WBDK and tip off shortly after 7 pm from Luxemburg-Casco High School. The game will also be streamed on New Radio Sports Network.